Reviews
SUBBANNA–by
Masti Venkatesa Iyengar. Translated by the Author from the Kannada original.
Available from the Author, Gavipur Extension, Bangalore City. Price Re.
1–14–0
This
is not a review in the orthodox style but a simple record of my personal
reactions to a leisurely reading of Subbanna. By a happy chance
I read it in Mysore this July in delightful weather, amidst the illuminations
and festive rejoicings of the Birthday celebrations of His Highness the
Maharajah of Mysore, in the very city home of Subbanna himself.
Sri
Masti Venkatesa Iyengar’s art is sheer artlessness. This is his basic virtue.
With the apparent simplicity of a mere reporter of events, gathered in
tranquility, he achieves great artistic effects. Masti commands a sensitive and
nourishing realism, a tenderness and a naive charm. He achieves it all by a
careful selection of the incidents, some of them specifically prosaic with a
view to heighten the final effects, and a portrayal of them through domestic
and well-used colloquial words. Even in his English translation he succeeds in
creating the Kannada atmosphere, mainly through his capacity to transmit even
to his English the echoes and native vigour of his mother tongue.
Masti’s
art itself is very much, to use his own simile, “like a child that places its
face against the mother’s breast and searches with its mouth for milk”, and
finds not only milk but also love. The manner is casual, thoughtfully casual,
leaving in its trail a vista of beautiful suggestions. The result of this
combination of qualities is real literature, whose authentic ring you hear even
in the English translation.
Though
I read Subbanna in English, I throughout imagined Masti his mother
tongue, with his complete mastery of the intimacies of home life and the word
that reaches and reveals the heart.
Subbanna
is the story of the evolution of the life of a gifted
musician against a background of suffering and poverty, and, above all, want of
sympathy. It is less a story and more a transcript from life. Even in parts
where it is not a transcript from life, the art employed is less of invention
and more of selection of suitable and kindred incidents that have come within
the range of the author’s own experience. The effect is remarkable as it makes
this kind of realism the most nourishing. It yields a simple delight to the
reader like mother’s milk.
Music
serves as a yoga sadhana to the pilgrim’s progress of Subbanna’s life,
and it is no wonder that Subbanna ends almost as a yogi. The whole process of
the evolution or sublimation of Subbanna’s character is finely conceived with a
true appreciation of the transmuting power of music on the human mind. The
musician’s life faithfully portrayed, with music as
the all-absorbing and transmuting art, the whole story
an elevating charm and an air of conviction and reality,
and a high and ennobling purpose. The personal
angle of description which Masti deliberately
adopts like a mother showering kisses on the child
till the cheeks of the babe dimple into a smile, gives the incidents a
touch of immortality and makes some of the observations of Masti
linger long in our memory.
Masti
is a first-rate observer of life in all it waywardness,
quietude and charm. Instinctive dislike for the mechanism of the, dialogue and
preference for simple description or narration is due to an eagerness to retain
a subjective and original intimacy with the object. He distrusts the
dialogue form because it gives a remoteness to the primary
human emotions. Hence the bias for the biographical method. So the
dynamic and direct portrayal of the essential drama of life in
its active pose, which means so much in literature, is not
found in Masti’s art, leaving us content with the gains in
tranquility, a naive charm and a unique simplicity.
Masti’s
art, like Subbanna’s music, is Nature’s own gift to Masti
in a moment of undress. It can never be educated either by literary criticism,
or refined into coded values by the Mysore Civil Service (either
active or in retirement), Masti’s art, like the brook that runs its own
meandering course amidst the rugged hills and babbles on
pleasantly, is a joy, as it is, only to the
eye that sees its beauty.
To
draw even mother’s milk is needed the innocent touch of a child’s
mouth. Only a similar innocent outlook on life can make
you enjoy or draw nourishment from Masti’s art and genius.
K. S.
Venkataramani.
Archaeology
and Ancient Indian History–Four lectures by Dr. Hirananda
Sastry, M.A., D.Litt., late Government Epigraphist for India and
Director of Archaeology in Baroda; Published by the Gujerat
Vernacular Society, Ahmedabad; Demy 8 vo, Pp. 8 + 107, besides
illustrations on art paper. (Price Rs. 3-0-0).
The
Gujerat Vernacular Society has done exceedingly well in publishing in
book form these informing lectures of Dr. Sastri. Publication of
Archaeological information by private enterprise
is, as is well known, only too rare in India and the Society deserves
warm congratulations on their publication.
After
the first lecture which is introductory, the learned Doctor gives a very
interesting account of the remains at Nalanda and later gives special attention
to archaeological remains in the region of Gujerat. Though the lectures are
meant for a lay audience, the Doctor intersperses his discourses
with arresting remarks, as for instance that Prince Vijaya was not a Bengali
but a Gujerati or that the Custom of moustache-trimming was copied from a
non-Aryan source!
After
this publication one looks forward eagerly to others by the Gujerat
Vernacular Society, similar but more elaborate in scope and character.
The
Brotherhood of Religions–by Srimati Sophia Wadia, The
International Book House, Bombay. Pages 288 (Price Rs. 3–0–0).
This
is a collection of speeches on religious topics delivered on various
occasions. Madame Wadia has all the pandit’s learning while she brings to bear
on the subject a broad outlook, which is refreshing and energising. The
fundamental object of the religious outlook, whatever be the particular label
attached to it, is to know the purpose of existence. This is discussed
from various points of view with a mastery of principle and felicity of
expression which makes a careful study of this work supremely
worthwhile.
C. R. S.
The
Truth About Leprosy–What every person should know and
can do about Leprosy–by T. N. Jagadisan, M.A., Honorary Publicity Secretary,
The British Empire Leprosy Relief Association, Madras Provincial Branch.–16
pages, (Price As. 3). With a foreword by the Hon. T. Austin, Adviser to H. E.
the Governor of Madras.
A
person having leprosy is only suffering from an ordinary disease which obtains
in two types, one of which only is infective. Even the infective type is not so
readily contracted as imagined, close contact for a long time–that too in
childhood–ordinarily being necessary; and a person with leprosy is not a
‘leper’ as ordinarily understood.
This
modern conception of leprosy is sought to be placed before the public, through
this booklet, with a view correctly to inform and educate them, while expecting
their full co-operation in successfully working out the campaign to control the
disease. This booklet issued by the Leprosy Relief Association is the first of
the series and others are to follow.
K. N.
Protective
Foods–Prepared by the People’s Provincial Food
Council–Padma Publications Ltd., Bombay. –18 pages, (Price As. 8).
Food
Grains in sufficient quantity are necessary for mere subsistence. But to
maintain one’s stamina at a high level and to gain protection from tubercle,
malaria, anaemia, diarrhoea, and such other devitalising diseases, Protective
foods, such as milk and its products, vegetables,
fruits, eggs, fish, and meat in abundance become necessary. In fact, such foods
are needed to improve one’s mental vigour.
This
subject is here dealt with briefly. The booklet is intended to bring to the
notice of the public and those that have to plan for the food supply of large
numbers of people, that augmenting, improving and increasing the production of
‘protective foods’ is a sufficiently important question which needs more
attention than has hitherto been given to it by Government and public workers.
There are suggestions offered on the possible ways in which each one of these
food products can be made available in good quantity, particularly to the lower
and middle classes.
K. N.
Darsan–Volo
II, Published by K. Venkataswami Naidu, M.L.C., Appah Gardens, Kilpauk, Madras:
originally issued as monthly leaflets. (Price Re. 1–0–0).
This
is a collection of articles by Sri K. Venkataswami Naidu and others mainly to
expound the tenets of the Srivaishnava Religion as recorded in the works of the
Alwars. The aim of the publication is to create interest in the cult of
devotion popularised by the Vaishnava teachers. The exposition is simple and
rational, and the worthy publisher, who is a well known publicist of South
India, deserves praise for this labour of love that he has undertaken.
V.
G.
Short
Stories–International Series No. I, International Book
House, Ltd. Bombay. (Price Rs. 3–8–0).
It
is unusual for a compiler to carp against his own collection, the privilege
being left to readers and critics. Here we catch the editors confessing in the
introduction: “The editors have been really surprised to perceive so
little of a real constructive value emerging from the plots of many of
the stories. Descriptions, human interest, anticipation, amusement pathos,
there are in plenty, but the Why, the How, and the What-Is-It-All-About, are
usually lacking.” It is unfortunate that after a laborious search and
picking out of 17 stories, in which we do not come across a single dull
or mediocre one, they should be feeling compelled to apologise for it. It is
because of the nature of their quest itself. They are looking for their object
in the wrong place. To get an idea of How and Why etc., they would do well to
apply themselves to a study of gazettes, blue-books, Royal Commission reports,
Origin of Species, Intelligent Man’s Guide to this or that, and Astro-Physics;
in short almost anything except, stories, long or short. I say this because the
last thing in a story writer’s mind is sociological or philosophical
information; he only aims at conveying an experience, with its emotional range
drawn fine, and set properly in its psychological background and environment.
He is satisfied if he succeeds in this purpose.
This
is assuredly a fine collection of stories, Maupasant, Tchekov, Wilde, Mark
Twain and Tolstoy, are some of the names represented here. The editors
themselves admit that the stories personally appeal to them and represent their
favourite ones. Excellent, sirs, excellent taste. Only don’t be apologetic
about it. You will learn not to if you don’t expect facts, systems, and
sehemes, of someone who is out to provide you only the music, colour and rhythm
of existence.
Kwantung
Message–by Paul Steven, Padma Publications Ltd.,
Bombay. 210 pages. (Price Rs. 5–8–0).
The
Publishers deserve to be congratulated on this addition to our meagre
literature on China, our nearest neighbour. Kwantung Message is a series
of vignettes from the story of the national rebirth of China built round the
life of Sun Yat Sen, the father of the Chinese Revolution. The writer has the
gift of saying much in little and this short book deals with an incredible
number of incidents, personages and topics. Mr. Steven’s method resembles that
of a caricaturist; with a few bold strokes he presents us with striking
pictures of the Taiping and the Boxer rebellions, of the amazing, mysterious
Yuan Shi Kai and of the chequered life of Sun Yat Sen himself. The plan of the
book is rather ambitious, for it sets out to be history, biography and novel at
the same time. But everyone who is prepared to push aside his virtuosity has to
accept that the book is eminently readable, though he cannot help feeling that
it misses greatness by striking after brilliance.
The
House that Jinnah Built–by B. G. Kausik, Padma Publications
Limited, Bombay. (Price Rs. 4–8–0).
The
Hindu-Muslim tangle has become the nightmare of Indian politicians as it has
for years been the trump card in the hands of anti-Indian propagandists
in India and abroad, resulting in quite a luxuriant crop of literature in
recent years bearing on the subject. The book under review written by one whose
earliest memories of Indian public life go back to the heyday of Hindu-moslem
unity in 1920-21, records, more in sorrow than in anger, the part played by Mr.
Jinnah in Indian politics and his steadily rising demands in the name of
Muslims. The book is closely documented, and brings the story
up to August 1942: and seems almost to adumbrate the failure of Gandhi-Jinnah
talks of September 1944. The author sets forth his constructive
proposals in the last chapter on the basis of a federal constitution,
completely autonomous provinces, a legislature with equal representation to the
two ‘stans,’ and the head of the Federal State being a representative of
Hindustan and Pakistan by rotation. The book ends with optimistic note: “What
is most heartening is that the cream of Muslim intelligentsia and youth
gravitates to progressive forces in the country towards nationalism,
socialism and congress……Reactionarism in the guise of Muslim or Hindu
communalism must lose whatever little appeal it holds no sooner the main prop
on which it rests, British imperialism, goes. That day, one cannot help
feeling, is not far off.”
K.
Gurudev
Nicholas Roerich–By K. P. Padmanabha Tampy, B. A.,
Published by The Book-Lovers’ Resort, Trivandrum. (Price Rs. 2–8–0).
This
is a eulogistic study of Nicholas Roerich, the great Russian artist and
humanist who has made India his home for the last 20 years and whose
landscapes–specially of the Himalayas–are well-known. A Russian by birth,
American by adoption, and Indian by spiritual kinship, Roerich belongs to that
small band of heroic souls who seek to serve the spirit of universal culture
and may be truly called citizens of the world. Roerich’s name is associated
with a Pact (1930) intended to promote world peace and mutual cultural
understanding among the peoples of the world, and a Banner of Peace “a trio of
three spheres in a circle in magenta colour on a pure white background.” It is
interesting to note that it was Tagore who first invited the artist whom he met
in London in 1920 to go over to India: and though he had never seen India, it
is curious that ‘Iswara’ was the name of the ancestral estate of the artist,
that an Indian Raja had his palace close to the neighbourhood of his family
house, and that he had already painted pictures with Indian themes. The views
of Roerich on Culture and his reactions to India make interesting reading. The
value of the book is enhanced by seven reproductions in colour, and 9
monochrome ones of Roerich’s paintings.
K.
PAMPHLETS ON INDIAN
AFFAIRS No. 19,–The Problem Population–By Gyan Chand.
Oxford University Press. (Price As. 6).
The author states in clear and brief terms that India is over populated. There might be some difference of opinion on this score when the recent phenomenal growth in the population of both Germany and Japan is taken into consideration. One is bound to feel that the bogey of over population will disappear with adequate industrial development and a fuller exploitation of natural resources. But the subject is one of fundamental importance to national well-being and can easily find a place in the agenda of post-war reconstruction. As such the book is a stimulating contribution.
G. V. R.
Tariffs
and Industry No. 20–By John Matthai. Oxford University Press (Price
As. 6).
This
is a brief account of the part that protection has played in the development of
Indian industries and the problems that it faces in the future. It might be
somewhat difficult to subscribe to the assumption of the author that in the
coming years the consumption goods require no protection, or at the most very
little of it. The relations that must exist between exchange and protection in
the post-war era have been briefly sketched. There is a note of warning that
the case of countries like India, which are still agricultural, might be
ignored by the industrial west. One feels, in passing, that the connection
between India’s Sterling resources and her future Industrial development have
not been adequately touched upon. If they are to be frittered away as after the
last war, of which there are many suggestions in the desire for the
re-allocation of expenditure between Great Britain and India, or if their
exchange into the currency of other countries is prohibited, one feels that it
will be a serious blow to India’s future Industrial expansion.
Industrialization takes a prominent place in all the blue prints of post-war
reconstruction and this little book serves as an admirable guide to many who
would like to understand the fundamentals of protection.
G.
V. R.